History
by Froodles
Summary: AU -But still Ninjaverse Long time no see...teme,'Naruto smirked at his former rival, and glanced at Sakura who was gathering chakra into her fist. This was gonna be one hell of a fight. Team 7 mainly SasuSaku.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: They were Team 7; they are apprentices of the Legendary Sannin. But two of them vowed to keep history from repeating itself. Set after the timeskip.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Naruto does not belong to me, but if it did, well... let's not go into that.

Also, I do not accept flames. I'm sorry if the grammar or punctuation is incorrect, and if it is a really big mistake, and then please tell me.

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Chapter 1: It begins

_Beep . . . _

_Beep . . ._

_Beep . . . _

BANG!

These were the noises heard as a very grumpy, pink haired kunoichi turned over in bed, mentally making a note to replace her newly broken alarm clock. She sighed; this would be the fifth this week. She groaned slightly, turning over once again to shield her eyes from the rising sun. Yawning, she snuggled into her comforter and closed her eyes, preparing to sleep once more.

_Knock . . ._

_Knock . . ._

_Knock . . . _

Oh, for kami's sake! What now? The noise was coming from behind. She twisted so she was facing the window. She was vaguely aware that the sun wasn't as bright as it had been a few minutes ago. Then she realized that this was because something or someone was blocking the light. She sighed again, getting up from the bed this time, and walking over to the window. Pushing it up, she let the rather brightly clad ninja into her bedroom.

"What do you want, Naruto?" She asked, stifling another yawn. She glanced at the clock. Remembering it was broken, she looked outside, trying to guess what time it was.

"It's _six- thirty_ in the morning. What could _possibly_ be _so_ important that you had to wake me up at _six 'o' clock _on my day off?" She asked, hands on her hips, her face showing every sign of annoyance and anger. Oh, yes, Sakura Haruno was _definitely_ not a morning person.

However, the same couldn't be said for the blue-eyed shinobi in front of her.

"Hehe... it's kind of funny you should say that ... ano... Tsunade-baa chan wants to meet you in her office, in –, "he broke off, glancing at the broken alarm clock. "- at 7:00."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her uncertainly. He had been on the same team as her for six years, but for Naruto, it was still hard to know what Sakura was thinking. Unfortunately, because of this, Naruto often found himself in hospital, with a bump the size of an apple on his head.

"Err... Sakura-chan?" he asked. Sakura was looking at the ground. Strangely enough, Naruto found no killer intent radiating from the kunoichi standing next to him. Without a word, Sakura dragged her feet to her wardrobe, picking out her daily training outfit (a red turtleneck, a black pleated skirt, with black shorts underneath and black ninja boots), and some clean underwear. She walked into her bathroom closing the door behind her. After he heard the click of the door locking, Naruto allowed himself to relax. He scratched his head.' _Girls can be so confusing'; _he shrugged, making his way to Sakura's kitchen. '_It must be that time of the month' _

Behind the locked door , Sakura slid down to the ground. She stared off vacantly into space. '_Tsunade-shishou knew how much this day meant to me. I've been putting in extra hours at the hospital every night, so why would she call me now, I guess she wouldn't have asked for me, if it wasn't important.'_ With that thought in mind, she raised herself from the ground and began to run the shower.

15 minutes later, Sakura rushed down the stairs. She looked around, there were food packets strewn all over the floor, and Naruto was crouching down, his head in one of the cupboards. When he finally got out, he was pouting.

"Ne, ne Sakura-chan, where's the ramen?" he said, rubbing his neck and grinning sheepishly. Sakura, against her will, smiled. Some things just never seemed to change. Naruto and his passion for ramen was one of them.

"You ate it all the last time you came" she said, trying very hard not to break out into a fit of giggles, as she looked at his crestfallen face. "Really, Naruto, how many times have I told you that you can't live on _just_ ramen. "

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. It was obvious he was sulking. Sometimes, Naruto was just a child in a man's body. It was almost cute in its own way.

Without a word they left Sakura's house and raced along the rooftops of Konohagakure, both preoccupied in thought. It didn't take them long to reach there. When they reached Tsunade's office, they saw that they weren't the only ones to be called. Shikamaru was sitting on a chair, trying to sleep, mumbling something being 'troublesome' and Neji and Tenten were having a heated discussion about fuma shuriken. In the corner stood Hinata, touching her index fingers together at realizing that Naruto had entered the room. Upon seeing this, Sakura sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that morning. Really, somebody had to do something about those two. Naruto was so oblivious to Hinata's feelings, and Hinata was just too shy. Also in the room were Chouji, Ino, Lee, Kiba and Shino. It's seemed as if all the Rookie Nine and Team Gai had been called. _Everyone except Sasuke. _Sakura felt a familiar pang in her chest. She swallowed and willed the thoughts to go away. She was stronger now; it would do her no good to remember him. She was brought out of her musings by a cough from the Hokage.

"I've called you here today for a very important mission" Naruto almost fell asleep as he heard those words. _Yeah, Yeah._ It was the same every time. He could handle anything she threw at him. He was getting closer to achieving his dream of Hokage every day. He could feel it.

"I'll get straight to the point. About a week ago, I sent some ninja to gather information about Orochimaru. They arrived in Otogakure safely; they were only ambushed by Rain Ninja. However when they got there, what they found was _not_ a sight for sore eyes. There was blood on the walls, the weapons lay scattered and only a few people survived, but they were injured terribly. All those who survived are now mute, and they were always illiterate, so they cannot tell us who or what did this to them. What we do know is that there were only two people missing. The medic, Kabuto is also dead. There were only two people missing at the time of the attack; Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke."

As she said this, she gazed directly at Naruto and Sakura. She couldn't tell what they were thinking. Sakura's eyes were glazed with unshed tears, and for the first time in his life, Naruto was silent and somber. But she could predict that there was a mixed feeling of hope and dread. Hope at the fact that the Uchiha survivor was alive, and dread at the possibility that Orochimaru might have taken over his body all ready. Godaime Hokage inwardly sighed.

At the back of the room, Sakura held back a sob. _Sasuke- kun. _She all ready knew what the mission was. She could see it in her shishou's eyes. She didn't know whether to be happy or to be angry. It really was a cruel game that fate was playing. She almost laughed; she was beginning to sound like Neji.

"I'm sending the most gifted young shinobi that Konoha has to offer on this mission. We have a taijutsu specialist, two byakugan users, and excellent sense of smell, one weapons specialist, a bug user and a great hulk of physical strength, one mind jutsu specialist and one shadow jutsu specialist. Not to mention my own apprentice, herself, and Konoha's Number One Knucklehead ninja.

'Your mission is to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke'

Yeah, sorry, this chapter was really short, and if you couldn't guess, I'm new to I don't know whether that puts anyone off or anything... Just to let you know, this is a little AU, and you'll find out why if you keep reading. I'm not going to ask you to review, because all I really want is to write a decent Naruto fan fiction.

Sayonara,

Froodles


	2. Chapter 2

Hi, Froodles is back with another chapter.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to me, not Kishmoto-sama ... Oops, wrong way around. Hehe. Rubs the back of her neck in a typical Naruto way

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Last time on 'History':

"_Your mission is to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. _

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Chapter 2: Promises

Sakura gasped once again, and Naruto gulped.

'Once you have attained Uchiha Sasuke, and I mean once, not if, you will bring him back to Konoha, where we will interrogate him about the happenings in Sound.'

Sakura glanced at Naruto; she knew how hard it must be for him. His and Sasuke's rivalry/ friendship was beyond normal. For normal people, it was impossible to hate someone so much yet love them as a friend, at the same time. She mentally smiled; then again, Naruto and Sasuke were never ones to be called normal. Her attention was averted from her thoughts to Neji, who had also stood up. He coughed.

"I, Hyuga Neji, request that Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto be left out from this mission," he ignored Naruto, who made an indignant noise. He continued, "They were connected emotionally to Uchiha Sasuke and if they still are... then it would jeopardize the mission. I speak on behalf of all the others in this room, Hokage- sama, when I say that I don't think that it would be wise to let them join the mission.'

He finished, glancing around the room. The remnants of Team 7 did this too. They saw that many of them were unwilling to meet Sakura and Naruto's eyes. Their hearts sunk simultaneously. They looked at their Hokage, and to their surprise, she was also unwilling to meet their eyes. All signs of hope vanished into thin air. When the Hokage finally spoke, it was in a slow quiet voice.

"I appreciate you for your concern, Hyuga, but I have all ready made the choice, and I'm unwilling to change it. Sometimes, the bonds that bind are the strongest."

She finished on a philosophical note and looked to the ninja in question. Naruto had a disbelieving look on his face, and Sakura was smiling through her tears, which had finally escaped.

"So... you're gonna let us go?" Naruto asked. The Hokage nodded slowly.

"Yeah, yeah! We're going Sakura-chan, dattebayo! Take that, Neji!"

The grinning blonde jumped around the office, his grin spreading even wider, as the Hyuga in question scowled. The over-enthusiastic, kyuubi vessel took 'his' Sakura-chan by the hand and led her out of the office, skipping all the way. Shouts of "Ramen's on me!" could be heard throughout the whole tower. The meeting was dismissed. The chunin all went out in pairs, leaving a very tired Hokage behind them.

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At the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, a pink-haired chunin and a blonde chunin were sitting on the seats. One slurping his ramen noisily and one sipping it quietly.

"Ne, Naruto?" Sakura's asked in a hushed voice. Naruto looked up. Sakura was quiet, and he could see that she wasn't keen on eating at all. She wore a contemplating look on her face, and the corners of her mouth were turned downwards. This had a strange sense of déjà- vu. She turned to him.

"Do you really think we can do it?" she asked, her eyes glazed, as if in another world. Naruto didn't seem to comprehend

"Huh? " He said. It wasn't hard to guess that Naruto wasn't the brightest pea in the pod.

"I mean, bring Sasuke-kun back. It's been so long," Sakura said. It seemed as if tears were going to fall again, but this time, she kept them at bay.

"Feh. It's a mission remember? We're bringing the teme back whether he likes it, or not." He said, he was now making the 'Good guy' pose.

Sakura smiled. She could always count on Naruto to cheer her up. But part of her was still sad. Even if they brought Sasuke back, the charges against him would be heavy, and she was as sure as hell that Team 7 would never be the same again. Sakura shook her head. She couldn't think like that. They didn't even know if Sasuke was alive. Standing up, she bade Naruto goodbye. She headed home, it was going to be a long day tomorrow, and she needed all the sleep she could get.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who was still at Ichiraku's, surprisingly hadn't touched another bowl since Sakura had left. His hands were fisted on the table, and if you looked at him closely, you could tell he was shaking. Sakura's question had left him thinking. It was true, Sasuke probably wouldn't want to come back, and when he did, it would be hell for all of them, but mostly for Sakura. It was hard to watch her breaking up in front of him.

Sakura wasn't just his teammate and close friend, but she and Kakashi-sensei had become his surrogate family. Sasuke, too, had been part of that family, before he had gone to join that snake pedophile. _Why d'you have to go and ruin everything, teme?_ He silently took out his frog wallet and left the money on the counter. He didn't feel so hungry anymore.

He put his hands in his pocket and watched the leaves from the trees fall slowly to the ground. His eyes were shadowed as he began to walk in the direction of his apartment.

Flashback:

_Sasuke turned around and smirked._

'_Hey. You all right? Scaredy cat...'_

_He __walked off, leaving an angry Naruto behind._

End Flashback

Flashback:

_Naruto stood in front of the huge snake, his hands digging into its scaly skin. He looked up, eyes red with a feral glaze in them._

'_Hey. You all right? Scaredy cat...'_

_Sasuke's eyes widened._

End Flashback

Flashback:

_Sasuke looked down at Naruto from the edge of the cliff._

'_It wasn't meaningless. To me, you... have become my best friend'_

'_But you're seriously trying to kill me.' _

End flashback.

Naruto almost smirked at the bitter irony of it all. The time he had wanted to bring Sasuke back, he had found himself in hospital with critical condition. Now, here he was, being sent on a mission again to bring him back. Fate really had a way of rearing its ugly face where it wasn't wanted.

He could see the apartment in the distance, the washed out yellow and the faces of all five Hokage looking down sternly on the village behind it. He continued walking.

-

POOF!

-

Instincts kicking in, Naruto immediately reached into his kunai holster and grabbed a knife. Spinning around, he changed into a defensive stance, only to relax when he found it was –

'ERO SENNIN!'

The said man scowled on top of the large frog he was on.

"I thought I told you not to call me that brat!' he snapped.

The frog disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya landed on his feet, walking towards Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, what're you here for anyway?"Naruto asked, thoroughly puzzled.

Jiraiya ran a hand through his mane of white hair. He sighed. He fell into step with his apprentice, not speaking for a while. He was about to speak, when he noticed the small downwards tilt of Naruto's lips. The boy seemed deep in thought, an unlikely occasion.

"Listen, brat-," he began," I heard about your newest mission" He said, glancing at Naruto from the corner of his eyes.

Naruto's head snapped up. Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been that. It was unlike the old pervert to check up on him, unless he was in serious trouble. Like that time, when he was on his first retrieval mission.

"Yeah? What about it?" He put both his arms up behind his head, in a traditional pose, but his voice was uncharacteristically monotone. The mission was getting to him more than he thought it would. He could feel Jiraiya's gaze on him, but he said nothing. Naruto inwardly snorted. The pervert would have to ask himself. He wasn't going to say it first. Finally, Jiraiya sighed.

"Sake?" He asked.

Naruto grinned, an old memory playing into mind.

"What happened to 'Money, Sake and women are the three downfalls of a shinobi'?" He said, inwardly smirking at his newfound wit.

"The occasion calls for it," Jiraiya said in a gruff voice. He closed his eyes and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto nodded and 'poofed' to the usual bar, too.

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It was late and the Kyuubi- vessel knew that his life might depend on the mission he had to start early next morning, but the comfort of drowning your sorrows away in alcohol was more needed than sleep right now. Besides, he'd find the energy from somewhere; he always managed to in the past.

He looked at his cup, and downed it in one go. He let out a breath and turned to his mentor of five years.

"So what did you want, old man?" he asked. He waited for a few moments.

When Jiraiya finally spoke, it was a sense of déjà –vu.

"You should give up on Sasuke," he said. He refused to meet Naruto's eyes.

They had had this conversation before. He knew it would do little good, and Naruto probably wouldn't be dissuaded in his pursue of his ex- best friend, but he didn't want his apprentice to go through the same pain and hurt that he did when Orochimaru left. He also knew that the Uchiha wouldn't hesitate to kill Naruto, if he had the chance. He didn't want that to happen either. One dead apprentice was enough.

Naruto scratched his head and looked up at his teacher .He spoke quietly,

"We've had this conversation before." He, too, refused to meet his teacher's eyes.

He asked for another cup of sake. He knew his mentor was speaking from experience, but it was just so hard to let go. That day, 5 years ago at the hospital, when Jiraiya had told him about the remorse and regret that he went through, trying to bring Orochimaru back, Naruto had felt some of his hope shatter. But over the years, he regained that hope with every step he took to becoming stronger. He knew that if he gave up on Sasuke now, the remorse and regret that he would feel, would be ten times that of having a chance to bring Sasuke back, and failing.

"Don't do it, kid," Jiraiya warned, taking another sip.

Naruto flared up. "How can you just say that, after all you've been through? You should know better than to tell me that after you tried to bring that snake bastard back so many times. Would you give up on him?" Naruto said loudly.

He was beginning to draw attention from the rest of the shinobi in the bar, but he didn't care. He looked to Jiraiya, who sighed again. For the first time ever, Naruto was struck by how old Jiraiya looked. The wrinkles on his face were beginning to increase, and his eyes had a jaded and weary touch to them. The eyes of a man who has seen much pain in the world. Naruto gulped.

He scratched his head in an embarrassed way.

"Ne, ne, Ero- Sennin, I didn't mean that, he he, I just sorta ... came out of my mouth." The kyuubi- vessel said nervously. He felt guilt pile up in his stomach. Jiraiya glared at his apprentice and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto hung his head glumly. _Well, this day doesn't seem to be going too well_. He ordered for yet another cup of sake. Once you got used to it, sake could be as fulfilling as ramen. The night went on, and somewhere between half past three and 'o' clock, Naruto remembered that he actually had to go home and sleep, so he dragged himself out of the bar, and headed for his cozy apartment .

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This time, it was Sakura who woke Naruto up and a good thing too, because his hangover hurt like hell. And being the lovely (albeit scary a few times) friend that Sakura was, she gave him hangover pills from her bag. Naruto didn't need to ask why they were there in the first place. The stress on having to meet Sasuke again was too much for the pink –haired kunoichi, so she did what any other shinobi in her position would do. She got drunk.

'Those who can do, do, but those who can't, drink,' It was an old saying from her shishou (mind you, she had been drunk at the time she had said it), one she found that she was quite happy to abide by.

By the time they reached the gated, everybody was all ready there. They apologized for their lateness and looked to Neji expectantly. Neji had been made head of the mission.

"We will be splitting into two groups. Hokage-sama said that he had been spotted near Suna. One group will take the direct approach and head towards the south of Suna... while the other will go through Amegakure and head to the north–west of Suna." Neji paused to take a break.

"Naruto, Sakura, Lee, Kiba, Shikamaru and I will be taking the route through Amegakure while Ino, Chouji, Hinata-sama, Tenten and Shino will take the more direct route. " As Neji paused to take another break, the shinobi automatically arranged themselves into their groups.

"Try to keep as little contact with the other group as possible. Good luck to you all. "Neji hoisted his pack and looked out to the horizon.

As the shinobi took their positions , Naruto looked at Sakura. '_I'll bring him back, Sakura-chan; it's the promise of a lifetime_.'

And the mission officially began.

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**A/N:** Sorry it took so long for me to update... I was busy sweatdrops


	3. Chapter 3

Hi…third chapter... sorry I was gone for so long...

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me.

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Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow. They had been running for some time now. He gritted his teeth and pushed on. No matter how tired he got, he would do whatever it took to save Sasuke. It was a promise of a lifetime. He glanced at Neji, who was anxiously glancing around with his Byakugan. Man, why was Neji always the leader on these missions… he had a tight stick up his ass and never let anyone have a break. Naruto pouted, he would make a much better leader… it would be good practice for being Hokage, too.

Meanwhile, Sakura was in a world of her own, she couldn't help but doubt that they would get him back. She had tried once, three years ago, and Naruto had tried twice. As you could tell, they had failed both times. It really was cruel. She knew that it was impossible for her to kill him. Despite being the best med-nin Konoha had to offer (besides Tsunade) and possibly being the best kunoichi of her generation, Sasuke was an Uchiha, one with talent and ambition. She knew that he would never be fully at peace with his mind unless Itachi's head was hanging from his sword. Even then, and here she blushed, he had the prospect of reviving his clan. Only then would he begin opening up. That is, if he ever came back. But Sakura had something that Sasuke had been robbed of since he was eight, she had hope, and hoping was all she could do for now. **Until we get to kick some Uchiha butt, Cha!! **Sakura sighed; it would seem that Inner Sakura was back.

Neji looked around cautiously. This mission was a high rank one and he couldn't afford to lose any of his team mates at this early stage. If that happened, the mission would be a failure for sure. Uchiha Sasuke was a dangerous missing- Nin, and apart from that, he was Orochimaru's most worthy pawn. If they happened to ambush him, they would need a full team to take down a Legendary Sannin. If Orochimaru wasn't all ready dead that was. He briefly ran through the mission details again. He sighed; the life of a shinobi was tough, almost too tough at times. He let his mind wander to the other team. He hoped they were fairing well, too. Hiashi- sama wouldn't forgive him if something happened to his daughter on a mission that he was the leader of. He sighed. His legs had stated to throb, and Neji knew that he had reached his limits for the day. He gazed at the team. By the looks of it, so had everyone else. He activated his Byakugan and looked straight ahead. He smirked._ Perfect._

'All right, it's time that we had a break, there's a stream 0.8 kilometres to the west, we'll make camp there an settle for the night. 'He said. His tone was sharp. His orders weren't to be disobeyed.

Cheering broke out from the rest of the group, as they pooled in the last of their energy to sprint off ahead. Neji smiled tiredly and followed behind them.

As they arrived at the stream, they assigned themselves to jobs immediately. They were tired- and hours of constant running would do that even to a hyper-active ninja like Naruto. So, it was only natural that they would want to eat as soon as possible and get some rest. Naruto, Kiba and Lee went to search for wood, Sakura took a bath first and Shikamaru, no matter how troublesome it was, went to set up the sleeping bags. Neji was sitting in a meditation pose, and everyone thought that it would be best not to disturb him. No one, absolutely no on, wanted to get in the way of an irate Hyuga.

After a while, Naruto and the others came back, with truckloads of firewood in their arms. They set up the fire and set down. Then there was nothing. Just complete silence. It was slightly awkward, and Naruto, being the loudmouth he was, decided to start a conversation.

" Ano… where's Sakura –chan, didn't she go to shower before us ?" Naruto asked, genuinely worried for his petal-haired friend.

" Aa.. She is taking a lot of time" Neji replied, his calm façade never breaking.

" Nah, don't worry about it, that's how girls are , they just take tons of time in the bathroom. Once, I had to wait for my sister for 3 hours." Kiba smiled an easy grin, wolfing down a cup of instant ramen.

"But what if she's in danger, we must protect our cherry blossom of YOUTH! " Lee smiled, giving his good – guy pose. The others sighed. Would that ever go away ( along with the green spandex and the bushy brows)? But they still contemplated his answer. What if Sakura really was in danger? What if some rogue ninja had suddenly sprung up on her while she was taking a bath?

Slowly, one by one, they began to inch towards the direction of the spring. Suddenly, Naruto stopped in his tracks. Everyone glanced at him questioningly.

"Umm… guys… what if she's… you know… _naked_?"

This was enough to make them all turn around with heavy blushes on their faces. Even Neji

"In a situation like this, it can't be helped; Sakura-san could be seriously wounded by now." Neji said, ignoring Naruto's loud protests. "Naruto, you go first, check if she is decent and then signal to us"

"**WHAT, **why me? "The blonde wailed. The poor boy had all ready suffered from Sakura's punches enough. He knew that this one would probably bruise for the rest of his life, if he was still alive that is. Sakura's fiery temper was infamous.

"So troublesome, you're the closest to her, obviously, she wouldn't mind as much if it was you," Shikamaru said, faking nonchalance, while mentally feeling sorry for the kyubi- vessel.

"And, your heads thicker then any of ours, it won't hurt as much for you!" Kiba grinned.

Naruto's shoulders slumped forward. He knew it would come to this. He dragged his feet and began to walk slowly towards the stream. The others glanced at him, and followed whistling.

It was a good 15 minute walk to the stream, and when they got back, they stopped and let Naruto go on.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked tentatively.

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Meanwhile, the other group had run into a spot of trouble. They had been running for a few hours, when Hinata had signalled for them to stop. She scanned the perimeter for chakra signatures and beckoned to the other to get ready. There were enemy-nin around.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a kunai whizzed past Shino's ear. He dodged at the last minute and sent his bugs out to pick up a scent. The others tensed there bodies and Hinata pointed in the direction of the enemy-nin. Ino reached into her kunai pouch, and threw three into the general direction. It appeared that the nin was hiding behind the broad bough of a tree. Ino jumped back as her own kunai were thrown back at her. One grazed her cheek lightly.

She did a few flips backwards for good measure. Hinata looked at the tree with her byakugan. There was only one person there. His chakra levels were high, and theirs were low. She calculated quickly. They had to beat him quickly, they couldn't drag It on for too long because then there was much more risk of injuries and casualties. She looked around; everyone had taken a defensive stance.

Shino looked around. He sensed movement. Suddenly a flash appeared, and with speed unknown to man (but known to ninja) the nin was on the branch of another tree in the clearing. He sent three kunai at Ino, but Hinata appeared in front of her and used Hakkeshō Kaiten, effectively blocking the kunai. Ino smiled at Hinata in thank, and Hinata nodded in acknowledgement. The nin cursed. He stood there observing them. He had long green hair , and purple eyes. He wore a loose fitting white shirt with black trousers and a black cloak. He smirked and began making handseals. Handseals that the group recognised as Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The group moved back simultaneously, so they wouldn't be crushed under whatever animal was to appear from out of the smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal a gigantic, black boar with a sword not too different from Gamabunta's. He was wearing dark green armour and a horned helmet. The summoner gave the group one last smirk before venishing in a puff of smoke.

Shino sighed. This was getting ( at the risk of sounding like Shikamaru) too troublesome. In their goup, it was hard to fight a summoned animal. They were bigger, stronger, and had enormous chakra reserves. He looked to Hinata .

Well, it didn't really matter about the nin, he was probably only a renegade. He didn't look as if he kew anyhing about the incident in Otogakure and was probably only trying to escape from them. What mattered at the moment was the enormous boar who was growling at them **(A/N : Do boars growl?) **Tenten whipped out a scroll as Hinata kept him distracted with a few well aimed shurikens. Kiba stood, ready to be backup if Tenten or hinta failed, and Shino and Chouji were there if Kiba needed a hand. Years of working like this had made them quite a frmidable force. It really was an amazing fight to watch.

Soon the boar was on it's side , roaring in frustration, it's libs had been tied together, courtesy of Tenten's chakra strings. It hadn't taken too long, but the whole team was fairly exhausted. It wouldn't do them any good to keep travelling, they would get easiy irratible and the teamwork wouldn't be as flawless as it had been just a few minutes ago. Shino ( as the vice leader of the mission ) asked Hinata to quickly scout the area for a suitable place for them to set camp. It has been quite an eventful day

It was night time, and the owls were hooting loudly. In an inn on the borders of Suna, the usual hobos were either drunk, or busy gambling all the money away. It was a filthy bar, where only the sleazy men came to make some money, or in hope of finding company for the night. It was the type of place where shinobi came to get dirt on their targets; it was no place for a child.

On a table right at the centre of the room, a poker game was going on. Nobody bothered to explain the rules, as none of the players would abide by them anyways. The dealer was a chubby man, and you could see that he had a few of his yellow teeth knocked out as he sneered challengingly at his competitors. The game progressed for some time, and it was only and hour before one of the players had bet everything that they had… and lost. Naturally, he caused uproar, and that started a drunken fight. The barkeeper didn't bother to look up from his job of drying glasses with dirty rags. Obviously, this was a usual scene in the over crowded bar.

In the shadows, a lone man watched the disgusting scene. His mind was full of discontempt as he saw the drunk trying to fight each other. He glanced to the barkeeper, slightly surprised that he wasn't doing anything to stop the brawl. Didn't he want to stop his bar from being destroyed? Mentally the man scolded himself. He had better things to do than contemplate human nature. He always had better things to do.

He took a long sip from his glass, relishing the way the alcohol burned his throat. He surveyed the room again at his far right sat a man with long, sleek black hair. Just the sight of it made his hands clench the glass tightly. Perhaps a little too tightly, as the glass shattered soon after. The man swore under is breath and stared at his hand, which had glass shards in it, and blood was flowing freely from the cuts. It wasn't enough to make him flinch; after all, he had endured much worse before. But the thought that he could still feel pain angered him. He wanted to become numb, free of the regrets that he felt, free of the obligations to _them. _ He left the right. Amount of money on the table and promptly left the bar.

He walked down the empty streets, trying to tae out the pieces o glass from his hands. He desperately wanted to be free, and he could do I in a second. He could run the tip of his katana across his throat. But he couldn't, because he had a man to kill, and if he died, it would only be after killing him. With that thought, his eyes turned red, and three black tomoe started spinning lazily. He smirked, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Sakura-chan..." The blonde called again. Under normal circumstances, Naruto would have been panicking frantically by now, but the huge wave of water rushing towards him prevented him from doing so. Neji immediately sensed danger and leaped in front of Naruto (who was too stunned to do anything about it) he started his Hakkeshō Kaiten, but put and exta spurt of chakra into it. Anyone who would have been passing by would have been amazed., A huge swell of water, which was meant to crash to the ground, and effectivly knck out anything in it's way, was being repelled by what looked like air. It was a surprising sight at the least.

"Naruto?" came a soft voice, it was panting lightly, and sounded thouroughly worn out. Even someone as thick as Naruto didn't need to take two guesses as to who it was. Sakura waded through the water, still in her full clothing. It didn't look as if she has been bathing at all. He clothes clung to her skin, her hair was matted , and random places on her body were covered with seaweed.

"Naruto?" Sakura repeated. Obviously the she hadn't noticed that a lot of time has past. She looked tired , and ready to faint. Without a word , Naruto ran to her side and supported her. Her eyes were drowsy, and she clung to Naruto for warmh. The blonde inced as he felt the cold water from Sakura soak his clothes, but made no complaint. It just wasn't the time.

Slowly, and wordlessly, the rest followed Naruto to the camp, they were all lost in their own thoughts, and none of them had any expression on their face that gave away what they were thinking. Neji, normally being the one with the least expression ( in Naruto's words, it was more like: the one who had the stick up his ass pushed up the furthest) wre a little scowl on his face. Sakura had definitely exhausted her chakra reserves, and they would have to take extra time torest because of her. Going to the river to practise the jutsu had been a foolish idea, and in doing so, Sakura had endangered the mission. This mission wasn't off to a good start at all. They now had two choices. They could either wait for Sakura to heal again, or they could leave her behind and go on ahead. Neji mentally cursed. Nauto wouldn't be happy with the latter. He knew that both members of Team Kakashi believed wholeheartedly in teamwork, it was hard for them not to considering that their sensei had been Kakashi, and all that they had been through since Sasuke's betrayal , 5 years ago.

Neji was at a loss for what to do, on one end, he couldn't leave Skaura, they needed her for healing,and she wasn't exactly shabby on the battlefield either and besides, Naruto would blow a nut. On the other end, he also couldn't waste time. Sasuke Uchiha ( the last time he saw him) was a man gifted with incredible speed, and they couldn't afford to waste time and lose his location.

In the end, Neji decide, it depended on how long it would take Sakura to recover, if it was too long.. .then he had no choice, he would have t leave her behind, ad we all know how much Sakura despised being left behind.

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**AN :** Sorry it took so long. I'll let you in on a little secret.. I actually didn't have a plan for this story, I'm making it up as I go along… so bear with me if the updates take a long time.


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